


To Protect and Serve

by mintywrites



Category: Silicon Valley (TV)
Genre: M/M, No actual violence, a distressing tale but everything is okay in the end I promise, violence mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2018-10-01
Packaged: 2019-07-23 12:59:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16159448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mintywrites/pseuds/mintywrites
Summary: When David doesn't come home after work and doesn't answer his phone, Dinesh starts to worry.





	To Protect and Serve

Dinesh and David had fallen into a routine, or at least, as much of a routine as they could with David’s devil-may-care work schedule and Dinesh working the more than occasional late night at Pied Piper. Dinesh gets out of work, Ubers to David’s apartment if David’s still at work, or gets picked up by him if he’s not. If David’s still on duty, Dinesh makes himself at home until his arrival. On this particular day, Dinesh got out of work only half an hour past 5, and since he had three hours to kill before David was due to come home from his shift, he busied himself with an errand he’d been putting off. David’s fridge had grown rather barren in the past few weeks, and Dinesh had been wanting to cook a meal for them to eat together at the kitchen table. Given how long it had been since he cooked anything, he figured he should start with something basic. _We never go out for Italian food. I’ll make pasta. Super easy._

Dinesh took an Uber to the grocery store (hopefully one of his last in-person trips, as he’d soon be rich enough to pay someone else to do it) and picked up some actual fresh vegetables, milk, and cereal. He briefly considered making pasta sauce from scratch, but instead decided on the most authentic looking (and expensive) jar of sauce they had, along with some fresh, artisanal parmesan cheese. And last but not least, he stopped by the liquor store next door for a bottle of wine to go with his (somewhat) handmade meal.

Groceries in hand, Dinesh hailed an Uber to take him back to David’s place, and sent a text message to him- _You’re in for a surprise when you get home ;)_ He frowned when he saw the time, only 6:12. It was weird being in a relationship like this, where he had a constant urge to be with his partner. He never had that with Mia, and he’d had it with Gilfoyle to an extent, although there were definitely times he’d been relieved to be away from him. But since he’d been seeing David, there had never been a time when he was alone when he didn’t think he’d feel better if David were there with him. Knowing this was a little scary, but the good kind, like he was looking down at the city streets from the top floor of a skyscraper. It still felt safe.

Dinesh let himself into his apartment (David’s apartment, technically speaking, although considering how long it had been since he’d stepped foot in the incubator, it may as well be his too) and put the groceries away before plopping himself down on the couch. He looked at the clock and sighed- only 14 minutes had passed since he last checked the time. Dinesh set a timer on his phone to remind him to start making the pasta so that it would be ready when David got home. David usually arrived about half an hour after the end of his shift, so Dinesh planned to start cooking dinner at 8:15. _I mean it’s just pasta and sauteed vegetables right? It can’t take longer than 15 minutes._

Throughout the next hour and a half, he checked the clock more often than he would have liked to, but finally it was 8pm and Dinesh opened his messages app. He was a little disappointed to see that David hadn’t responded to his text from earlier, but he tried not to take it personally- the life of a traffic cop was unpredictable, and it wasn’t uncommon for David to go an entire shift without looking at his phone. But David was off work now, so Dinesh sent him another message, _can you speed to get home faster if you put your siren on?_ He already knew the answer, David would never do something like that because he’s too by the book. It was a little annoying sometimes but Dinesh found it really endearing. He smiled as he put his phone back in his pocket and got up to go to the kitchen. _I might as well start now. Who knows, he could be home early._

Dinesh put the water on to boil before getting out the vegetables, kitchen knife and cutting board. _David likes onions right? Oh who am I kidding, everyone loves sauteed onions._ Dinesh himself wasn’t a huge fan of brussels sprouts, but he put some in knowing that David liked them, for some reason. _I’ll just scoop all of them onto David’s plate when they’re done cooking._ By the time he was done, the water was at a boil, and Dinesh poured the pasta in before turning on the other burner and putting the vegetables on to cook. _Look at me, cooking two things at once. I definitely could have been a chef._ A few expert pan-tosses later, the vegetables were done, and the pasta was ready to be drained.

After opening the jar of sauce, Dinesh considered the pristine white stripes on his rugby shirt and put on David’s apron, just in case. He didn’t want to pour the sauce on the pasta at its current temperature, though, so he put another pan on the stove to warm it up. He sat down at the table to check Twitter while he waited, and forgot about the sauce until it had already burned at the bottom. Dinesh sighed and tried again, this time stirring the sauce vigilantly so it wouldn’t burn. When it was finally bubbling, Dinesh carefully poured the sauce into the pot of strained spaghetti before portioning the pasta into two bowls, and set them along with two plates of vegetables on the kitchen table. He glanced at the clock and hoped David would be just one or two minutes late, to give him time to set out the utensils, pour some wine, and maybe light a candle or two.

Dinesh looked over the dinner, complete with mood lighting, and grinned. He knew David would love it, even if it tasted bad, which it wouldn’t because he’s an excellent shopper/chef. He reached down instinctively to take off the apron, but decided instead to keep it as he figured David would enjoy it. He looked at the clock again- 8:37. It was too early to call, since sometimes David was all the way at the far end of his jurisdiction when his shift ended, but Dinesh decided to send him another message. _You working late? You usually call when they keep you._ Dinesh gulped, but told himself it was nothing to worry about. David was probably driving and he never texts while he drives. Not even at a stoplight. _But why didn’t he at least respond to that first message I sent him from the grocery store?_

8:50. Dinesh closes his solitaire app and gets up to check the temperature of the pasta. It isn’t quite cold yet but it certainly isn’t hot or even warm. He contemplates putting it in the microwave, but somehow it feels like doing anything more to prepare for David’s arrival will jynx him and David will never come home. _No, I shouldn’t be thinking things like that. He’s fine, there’s no reason to think he isn’t._

8:53. Dinesh had re-opened his solitaire app and tried to continue the game he’d been playing, but after staring at the screen for a minute or two without doing anything, he closes the app and brings up his recent call log. _How much longer until it’s not being clingy and paranoid to call him?_

9:00. He hits the call button as soon as the hour turns over. David’s phone rings four times before going to voicemail. Usually hearing David’s voicemail message made Dinesh feel better, no matter how shitty his day was going, but this is the last thing he wants to hear. _At least it didn’t go straight to voicemail. Right?_

9:04. The scene from _Fargo_ keeps playing in Dinesh’s head. He and David had sat down to watch it a few weeks ago, but after seeing _that scene_ involving the traffic cop and the kidnappers and the bullet and and the _blood_ , Dinesh couldn’t watch another minute. David had been disappointed because it’s one of his favorites, and Dinesh hadn’t been able to understand how David could enjoy that movie and then go out and do traffic patrol the next day. _Why did I let him go to work after seeing that?_

9:15. He tries calling again, with the same result. Dinesh shuts his eyes and puts his hand on his stomach. He feels like he’s going to be sick. He realizes that he’s still wearing the apron. His hands shake as he fumbles with the strings to untie it. He feels like he’s going to cry. _I can’t cry. If I cry that makes it real._

9:19. Dinesh thinks about the house he wants to buy. About David moving into it with him. About how David might never be able to do so. He thinks about all the things he and David have talked about doing together, all the places they could visit and things they could try. Places Dinesh wants to show David because they’re important to him, and places he wants to explore with David for the first time. He feels empty imagining life alone now that he knows what it’s like to have a companion, a partner. A big house would be meaningless without David there with him. _No. David will be there. He will._

9:30. Still no answer. Dinesh lies in the fetal position on the couch, holding his knee in one hand and phone in the other. The scene from _Fargo_ is still playing on repeat in his mind. _That guy shot him in the head._

9:32. Dinesh decides to call the station. He’s only had to call once before, when David forgot his phone on his nightstand, so Dinesh has to look it up online. His hands are shaky and it takes him a few tries to type the words in correctly, but soon he has the number. _Just call, and then you’ll know. You’ll know he’s fine and not dead at the side of the road somewhere. You’ll know he’s on his way home._

9:38. He’s still staring at his phone, his thumb frozen above the call button, when he hears a rustling at the front door. The lock turns over. Dinesh springs to his feet, his heart feeling like it will beat out of his chest, and as soon as he sees David appear from behind the door, he rushes over and wraps his arms around him tightly. He buries his face in David’s chest and finally allows himself to cry.

“Dinesh, baby, what’s wrong? Did something happen?” David petted Dinesh’s head and led him backwards, giving him room to close the door behind him. Dinesh let out a shaky sigh of relief when he felt David’s hand on the small of his back.

Dinesh tilted his head so that his words wouldn’t be muffled by David’s chest, but so his temple was still pressed into him. “You didn’t text or call. I thought something… something might have happened to you.”

David sighed, realizing his mistake. “I’m so sorry Dinesh. You know how I am with my phone. I put it on my desk, and I forgot to bring it with me when I had to go to another precinct to give a statement, and I went straight home from there. I was supposed to leave on time but it ended up being a bigger ordeal than I’d thought. ...not the shootout kind, the bureaucratic kind. I’m sorry, baby, it won’t happen again. Come on, let’s go sit down.”

Moving Dinesh over to the couch proved difficult as Dinesh was determined to keep as much of his body pressed into David as possible. After scooting only a few inches, David put his hands under Dinesh’s thighs and hoisted him up. Dinesh gladly wrapped his legs around David’s waist, allowing him to carry him across the room. Once they got to the couch, Dinesh was reluctant to unhook his legs, but he let go shortly after David stopped holding him up. David sat them down, Dinesh nuzzling into David’s chest and wrapping an arm around his waist, and David cradling Dinesh’s head in his hand. “It’s okay, baby. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”

“I love you.” Dinesh’s voice trembled as he spoke.

David took Dinesh’s hand in his, lightly running his thumb back and forth over Dinesh’s skin. “I know, I love you too.”

“No I really love you! Like I want to spend the rest of my life with you! I’d been starting to think that recently but then when you didn’t come home it really hit me that that’s what I want and I can’t keep worrying about you every day when you go to work, not when I make more than enough money for the both of us.”

“Dinesh, are you… are you asking me to quit my job?”

Dinesh nodded into David’s chest. “I wouldn’t ask if I thought you actually liked it. But you’re always telling me how unfulfilling it is. If you don’t like it and you don’t need the money, and you could get shot… why do it?”

David sighed. Dinesh was right, he did hate his job. He’d dreamt of solving murders and apprehending bad guys like Marge Gunderson, and sure, he did keep drunk drivers off the streets. But most of his job was lining the police station’s pocket with parking ticket money, and even if he did find evidence of a major crime during a routine pullover, he needed to call it in before he cuffed the guy to make sure he wasn’t interfering with an active investigation (as he’d found out the hard way earlier that evening). 

And he knew firsthand that his current line of work wasn’t worth getting killed over, but he’d never tell Dinesh this, at least not until he’d retired- a few years prior, a civilian had pulled a gun on him. Instead of following protocol, David had put his hands up and allowed him to drive away before putting out an APB. That move was still a tarnish on his reputation with his colleagues, but David didn’t regret it. If he’d acted differently that day, who knows. he may never have met Dinesh.

David kissed the top of Dinesh’s head. “I really love you, too, Dinesh. And you’re right. My job isn’t worth getting killed over, and it’s not worth making you this upset. But are you sure you want to support me financially? I don’t want to ask that of you.”

Dinesh straightened up his posture so that he could look at David. “Of course I do. You’ve done so much for me, and I know you didn’t do it because you want me to repay you, but I... Our stock value goes up every day, and my next paycheck should be enough to pay off the last of my debt.”

He ran his fingertips over the side of David’s head. _It’s all in one piece, and it’s going to stay that way._

“I want to do this for you. For us.” Dinesh inhaled. It had been easy to tell David he _really_ loved him when he hadn’t been looking at him, but now that David was staring into his eyes, Dinesh felt vulnerable. Open. Seen. His instinct was to curl up into David, but he reminded himself that this wasn’t skydiving. It was looking out a skyscraper window. He was safe. 

“I want to start our life together.”

David ran his thumb over Dinesh’s cheek. Dinesh hadn’t even realized he’d still been crying.

“I’ll put in my two weeks notice tomorrow.”

Dinesh wrapped his arms tightly around the back of David’s neck and buried his head in his chest once more. He wished David had said he’d call his boss and quit, effective immediately, but he didn’t want to push it. He sighed in relief.

They sat like that for a while. David asked Dinesh about his day to get his mind off the ordeal he’d gone through, and although Dinesh’s voice started out quiet and glum as he spoke about work, he began sounding more himself as he recounted a problem with the network he’d solved. David smiled. He didn’t really understand what Dinesh was talking about, but he was proud of him.

Dinesh winced as he straightened out his legs and put his feet on the floor. He’d been sitting with his knees bent at a sharp angle and it was starting to catch up to him. As he shifted his weight, David’s stomach grumbled.

“Oh, I totally forgot, I made us dinner.”

“Dinner? Really?” David smiled. He held back any sarcastic comments about Dinesh and cooking that he could have made. Dinesh had been through enough already that evening. They stood up and made their way to the kitchen, Dinesh keeping an arm around David’s waist. He wasn’t letting go that easy.

“I mean it’s just pasta and vegetables. Well, it _was_ just pasta and vegetables, it’s been sitting out so long I don’t think we should bother with it.”

David gulped when he saw the food, and the wine, and the candles burned almost all the way down. He’d known of course how upset Dinesh had been, but this was physical evidence of how much Dinesh loved him, how long he’d waited for David’s arrival, and how much of an ass he’d been for leaving his phone on his desk without considering it as a tool to get in touch with Dinesh rather than just one more way for scammers to reach him. Dinesh had removed his hand from David’s waist, and was picking up the dishes to throw the food away. David approached Dinesh’s side, and when he looked up from the table, David was looking down at him.

“I know I said it before, but I really am sorry. I wasn’t being considerate about communicating with you. I’ve been doing this job for so long without incident that it doesn’t register to me that being home late is a cause for alarm. And I know your whole life revolves around technology and you’d never leave the house without your phone, but I just don’t operate that way. But you’re important to me, and this is important to you, so I’m going to be better. But I guess it doesn’t really matter, since I’m quitting. I just… I’m sorry.”

Dinesh stood wide-eyed, awkwardly holding a pasta bowl. He hadn’t been expecting an apology, since he’d known it was an unfortunate mix-up and David would never make him worry if he could help it. He didn’t really know what to say, so he just leaned up and gave David a kiss. The two of them emptied the expired food into the trash, and David asked,

“So are you going to cook round two? I’d love to try some _pasta a la Dinesh._ ”

Dinesh huffed. “Not tonight. Let’s see, we have some leftover Chinese in here, we can heat it up and sit on the couch.”

“Perfect.”


End file.
